The Bulls were one of the hottest G5 teams (other than that one other undefeated team in Florida) in the first seven weeks of the season. USF was 7-0, ranked, led by the ex-Bama and ex-ASU QB Blake Barnett, and had ex-Longhorn Head Coach Charlie Strong. And then USF had to play UCONN, aka statistically the worse defense in college football history…
The Beginning of The End
USF came out of that game against the Huskies after a onside kick and the loudest un-puckering you will ever hear. Teams can become rattled after close losses like USF has, but this destruction was like El Nino sweeping across Florida. The Bulls would play Houston, Tulane, Cinn, Temple, UCF, and Marshall. To make a long story short, USF would end up losing all six games by 10 or more points, with the closest game being 27-17 against Temple.
Why does this matter? USF just became the first team in history to start out 7-0, and finish the season 7-6. 6 L’s in a row. Granted, no one expected USF to be pushing for a playoff spot (I think it’s actually impossible for any team in Florida to get a spot so. CC: UCF), but at least finish your season off when playing conference teams.
The curse didn’t end just at the record however. Blake Barnett, the QB who was leading the Bulls through nine games, was plagued with shoulder and ankle injuries, and sat out until the bowl game, and it was not pretty in the the Bulls’ bowl.
THE GASPARILLA BAD BOY BOWL:
Marshall and USF were selected for the Lawn Mower Bowl, aka where we have to see an ESPN reporter sit on a mower and try to be funny for the three hours. Well, as already spoiled eariler, USF got bullied like a real bull in Barthcelona.
QB’s were switched in and out, we saw at least 19 punts, and Barnett got a ball smacked out his hand and snatched by a Marshall player and it was one of his last plays in college.
Starting out 2019 on the wrong hoof:
USF is still Charlie Strong’s team as of right now and into 2019, there is no doubt about it. His last two seasons before this were two loss seasons, so he wasn’t on the hot seat whatsoever, but depending on how the 2019/2020 season goes, we could see Uncle Charlie at another school. Gilbert, the OC, left for a coaching job at McNesse State, so Strong will be on the search for a new play caller to go along with a new gunslinger.
On top of the shotty season, USF’s current AD wasn’t the one who hired Strong, and with a very large paycheck being given to Charlie on Jan 1, he might not be given a rose… a $2.5 million rose as a matter of fact. Strong was riding off of a UT contract and now his USF contract is in effect. On top of Charlie getting his bag, all of his assistants will be receiving their bags as well, as in $3.4 million worth. The other side of this debacle is that his buyout is low, and after reading about some weird Florida Public Official thing (boring money stuff), his payout is around $1.3 million because of his old UT contract.
Wrapping up the Bulls**t:
Is this an over-reaction article? Possibly. Was I stuck at work at 3am (Planet Fitness aka the 2nd coming of hell) and watched the whole entire repeat of the game? You’re damn right I did. But in today’s college world, you can have a 2-3 loss season and be given the boot. A SIX STRAIGHT loss season will cause the AD and boosters (aka fan boys with some bags to drop) to start becoming a little skeptical. I was a huge USF guy, and I even had them ranked (off of memory, might be wrong) 16/17 this season, so i’m no anti-USF guy. But, I will say that this guy is starting to look a lot like Skip Holtz on the field, and that’s no bueno.
(Editor’s Note: Andy ranked them 20th in the week eight SU25 rankings)